


Code Intelligence (on hold)

by OmegaBug



Category: Criminal Minds, Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: A lotta frustration, A lotta swearing, Action, Bromance, Daddy Hotch, Emotional Hurt, Friendship, Garcia is too sweet for this world, Graphic, Hurt Spencer Reid, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapped Spencer Reid, No Slash, Protective Derek, Protective Emily, Psychological Torture, Rossi secretly yoda?, Spencer Reid is literally smarter then Einstein, Torture, Tragedy, a whole lotta guns, mystery & crime
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-21
Updated: 2019-08-21
Packaged: 2020-09-02 09:05:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20273413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OmegaBug/pseuds/OmegaBug
Summary: After a number of serial killings on people with high IQ’s, the BAU must sacrifice their vacation time to travel to Boston, Massachusetts. The team must find the killer before he runs out of people to murder, and most importantly, before he finds out the IQ of Spencer Reid.Reid deals with his own painful memories and his inner thoughts and demons that he thinks he needs to fight on his own. Him and the IQ killer silently begin to play a dangerous game of cat and mousePart 1/3 of "Code Intelligence"





	1. Prologue - I

**Author's Note:**

> Still currently revising chapters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still currently revising chapters.

December 10th - 9:43pm - 2 hours and 17 minutes until vacation

...

Why the hell did Spencer Reid ever decide to get a pet parrot? 

Actually, why did he except the mangy bird as a Christmas gift from Garcia? The bird was terribly annoying, night and day. The only good thing about him was his color, which was grey. With the exception of a little red-feathered tail. Garcia had really done her job on the christmas gifts this year. Emily got a ninja kitchen blender, Hotch got a giant dessert cookbook…

Reid got a parrot… 

Granted, it’s not like that was everything he got. Emily and JJ always got everyone christmas gifts, along with Rossi. Reid now had two new books about the history of time and scientific theories about the universe and how it was created. Also a perfectly convenient coffee mug that kept his drink hot for up to 24 hours. That one was from Rossi.

But of course, everybody already knew Garcia’s gifts would trump all.  
But of all the knowledge that Reid had inside his fat little brain, the African grey parrot was not something that was on that long list of things. 

Christmas was 2 weeks away and it had been the teams last day before vacation. Garcia came (carefully) marching down the steps in her high heels with the most enormous box you’d ever seen, wobbling in her hands. She was trying her best to balance both the box and herself, although she was obviously struggling. The sound of her painfully slow footsteps down the stairs was what caught the attention of her teammates. The heel of her foot searched for where the next step was as she couldn’t see anything because of the box’s massiveness that was in front of her face.

“Whoa,” Morgan hurried over to the steps to help her. “Careful baby girl.” He held the front of the box with his rough hands. 

Garicia’s head popped out from the side. “Oh, Morgan, thank goodness.” She breathed. “Take this.” She put all the weight of the box on him and he almost stumbled back, but caught his balance just in time. She let go off the box and hurried down the steps. “Here, put it right here!” She beamed with suspense.

The rest of the team unsurely sauntered their way over. “Garcia, why do you have a box the size of my grandmothers moped?” Emily asked.

Morgan managed to make it down the three steps that were left and plopped the box down on the ground in their grouped circle of people. “I’m pretty sure you could fit three kids in that box.” He said, suddenly eyeing Garcia suspiciously. “You don’t have three kids in this box right?”

Garcia slapped Morgans shoulder. “No but I bet I could shove one Derek Morgan in their if he gets me arrested in my own police station!” She said, looking around to make sure no one heard what he had just said.

The team laughed, and Morgan chuckled at her, putting his hands up in defeat. “Alright baby girl you win, what’s actually in it?”

She turned to the team with her typical ‘trying to hide my excitement’ smile on her face. “Christmas.”

Everybody’s smile faltered slightly. A box. That big. For christmas presents?

“Oh, Garcia,” JJ said thoughtfully. “That is so sweet of you. Did you seriously…?” She gestured to the box.

Garcia nodded rapidly. “And!” She put her finger up. “I got you each a gift that reminded me specifically of you.” She turned towards the box and started ripping it open. “So, I want you all to know, that,” she said between rips and tears. “No matter what it is, you’re all taking what you get home, and you’re going to use it because you need it in your life and if you don’t use it I’ll know and it’ll hurt my feelings.” She finally managed to open the top part of the box, tossing the packaging tape into some random direction.

“Garcia, you know you don’t have to spend all your money on gifts for us each holiday.” Hotch inclined with a hint of a soft smile behind his lips.

“But I do.” She dramatically dragged. “Because, when else am I gonna be able to give you guys presents?”

“Our birthdays?” Reid said. 

“Shhch-ch-ch.” she cut him off. “Now first off, we have…” She pulled out a tall rectangular present, wrapped in blue paper with a red bow. “Red bow, Emily.” She said, handing it to her.

“Oh,” Emily smiled, uncrossing her arms to take the box. “Thank you.”

“Aaaaand,” She took out another box, much thinner and taller, but essentially had the same shape. “Morgan.”

He mumbled his thanks to her with a cute smile on his face while he took it into his own hands. Garcia continued to pass out the rest of the gifts until Reid was the only one left to not have anything in his hands. He held the strap of his shoulder bag anxiously, watching his friends already have opened most of their gifts.

“Oh my god, Garcia!” JJ chimed. She held up her unwrapped gift of a decorative glass swan that shone like diamond. “It’s beautiful!”

“I thought you could add it to your collection of endlessly beautiful things that sit around your house all day.” Garcia said. “But, mostly because you're beautiful, and, the swan is beautiful, and it just correlates…” Garcia watched JJ give her a genuine and warm expression as she held the glass swan close her chest as a way of saying 'thank you.'

“A cookbook.” Hotch nodded, already flipping through the pages. 

“Yeah, mine too.” Rossi said, walking nearer to Hotch to see if they had the same gift. 

Hotch and Rossi exchanged glances, and they both held up the front cover of their book side by side. Hotch’s title read, “Desserts: To make” while Rossi’s said, “Desserts: Not to make.”  
Reid couldn’t hold back a snort, neither could Morgan hold back the silliest grin and giggle. Both the boys tried to turn away and hide their faces by each other with Reid, naturally being the one to try and quickly compose himself.

“Don’t worry they’re both by professionals!” Garcia said. 

Reid nodded along. “She’s not wrong.” He said. “Anna Hansen was actually first introduced to cooking at a rather young age compared to other successful chefs who grew up in Canada, she's previously worked at restaurants such as; The French House, Green Street, The Sugar Club-”

“Yes,” Garcia quickly touched Reid’s arm. “Thank you, Reid.” But with no hesitation did she level with Rossi’s eyes. “It’s just...” She started. “You’re already too good of a chef, so like, you need to keep it that way, which is why I got you this book so you don’t accidentally make something terrible when you grow old and weak and forget that mashed potatoes without salt is just distgusting. And Hotch.” She said. “... You just need to make more sweets in your life.”

Rossi and Hotch weren’t ashamed to take another look at their books side by side and give Garcia the most heartwarming, and thankful smile. 

“I love it.” Hotch said.

“Thank you Garcia.” Rossi walked over to give her a hug and a kiss on the forehead, and Garcia exchanged a hug with no hesitation. 

“A blender?” Emily asked while examining from top to bottom, a rather high-class looking black blender with the words "ninja" on the front.

Garcia kept hold of Rossi and eyed the blender and Emily. “You just need to make more smoothies.”

The team laughed, which left Morgan and Reid. Morgan had just finished unwrapping his rather big gift. He stood it up straight to see a long, shiny looking fishing rod. It was all silver with a few strips of red and gold at the tip.

Morgan’s face hopped back down to Garcia with a look of playful curiosity. “So, when you hear the name Derek Morgan, this is what you think of?”

“Exactly.” She confirmed. “Morgan, you need to go fishing more often.”

Emily studied the rod with squinted eyes. “That’s an Okuma Scott Martin Tournament Concept Rod.” She momentarily pointed at it, looking up at Morgan with raised eyebrows. “Those are pretty high quality.”

“Didn't know you knew so much about fishing rods, Prentiss.” He bickered while walking over to Garcia, he gave her a side hug while holding his new fishing rod in one hand. “I’m pretty happy you think of me as high quality.” He smirked.

She playfully stroked his cheek with her hand. “Only you, Agent Morgan.”

The people around the circle chuckled a little, before steady eyes started to slowly make their way over to Reid. Reid uncomfortably shifted his feet.

Morgan caught onto Reid’s almost awkward silence, and nodded to him. “What about you, pretty boy?”

Garcia seemed to sigh hesitantly. “Okay, Reid… you see...”

“No! It’s - it’s okay Garcia.” Reid quickly reassured. “You didn’t need to get me anythi--”

Garcia slapped him quick on the arm. “Ow!” Reid croaked. How did she even manage to get over here so fast? “What was--”

“Spencer Walter Reid. How. _Dare_ you.” She demanded with defense. ““Not buy you a gift,” of course I bought you a gift, did you think I was just gonna forget about you and you’re…” she gestured to his whole body. “Reidness?” She asked. “In fact, I loved you so much, that your gift isn’t even in this box… it’s at your apartment.”__

_ __ _

JJ krept a little closer to Garcia and smiled knowingly, as if she already knew what was about to go down.

Reid looked between JJ and Garcia. “How did you-?”

“I stole your keys during lunch.” JJ said. “Sorry.”

Reid instinctively patted himself down for his keys before JJ reached into her back pocket and pulled them out, dangling them in front of Reid. Reid hesitantly took them with an expression of odd suspicion.

Garcia quickly cut in between the two before any further interaction distracted them. “Your gift is called a Mojo.”

Reid’s face twisted into confusion. “A Mojo?” 

Meanwhile, in the background, JJ was gesturing the team to follow her to the parking lot. They were gonna wanna see this.

“What’s a Mojo?” Reid asked.

______________________________________________

_________________________________

“Oh.” Reid tried to say in a positive beat. 

When he had walked through his apartment door, a little bird cage sat on his table in front of his couch. And it had a little grey bird with a red tail sitting in it. It’s head popped up in surprise when Reid walked through the door.

Emily was the third person to see the bird, as Garcia had already pushed passed Reid and went over to the cage to check on the parrot. Emily’s face turned into one of shock and humor when she saw the animal. “Oh my god,” She quietly breathed, obviously trying to pacify an amused laugh.  
Hotch came up from behind her and took a look, as well as Morgan, Rossi, and JJ.

Reid tuts. “It’s… it’s a parrot.”

Garcia nodded with a smile. “Do you like him??”

Reid dropped open his mouth and then raised his eyebrows. “Yes.” He blinked.

Rossi grabbed Reid’s shoulder, with his other hand loosely in his pocket. “Good luck taking care of this one, Reid.” He teased.

Reid unconsciously nodded at his comment while he looked at the bird dumfoundly. “So uh… why a parrot?”  
She teased her pointer finger up and looked at him. “Because the african grey parrot is actually known to be the smartest bird in the world. Well, third smartest but that’s still close enough to first.”

The team was silently engrossed, taking in the thought of Reid having to care for a chatty parrot everyday when he got home from work, while it was taking Reid much longer then normal to process the fact that he now had a pet bird in his apartment that he never could get rid of, even if he wanted to. I mean, it was Garcia. You don’t _ever_ turn down Garcia, that’s worse than any case of homicide.__

_ __ _

“Good afternoon Mojo.” Garcia said.

_ __ _

The bird chirped. “Hello.” 

_ __ _

The team finally found themselves circled around the desk at the intriguing intelligence of the bird, half ignoring some random books that were sprawled out on the carpeted floor, probably books that Reid had just recently read for the 10th to 15th time in a row. 

_ __ _

Garcia introduced them. “Mojo, Reid. Reid, Mojo.” 

_ __ _

“Reid.” Mojo squaked. “Reid. Ree-ree-ree, Reid. Reeeee.”

_ __ _

Laughter boiled like a kettle in the room, Morgans laugh easily the loudest. Reid rolled his eyes. “Yes, haha very funny.” He spat with sarcasm.

_ __ _

“Mojo, this is your new roommate.”

_ __ _

“New roommate.” Mojo repeated.

_ __ _

Hotch studied the bird. “This is… impressive.” He said.

_ __ _

Emily half laughed. “Garcia.” She gently pointed at bird. “This is so cool where did you find him?"

_ __ _

“My second cousin's bird farm.” She said, getting a number of raised eyebrows. Garcia stood there, giving them all a look as if they should've already known. “Family business." She said with an obvious tone. "He's got all kinds of birds. He said Mojo was one of his BHBM birds.” She mumbled towards the end.

_ __ _

“BHBM?” Emily asked.

_ __ _

Garcia silently stepped closer to Emily “Big heart, big mouth.” She whispered.

_ __ _

Emily nodded along, mouthing an “oh" in response.

_ __ _

Reid looked at the bird confusedly, not knowing what the hell he was supposed to say to an African parrot. Was he supposed to converse with the thing? What if talking with the bird was worse then what it was like to talk to people? He inhaled, leaning over to Garcia with his eyes still on the parrot. “Isn't the African grey parrot the most talkative parrot in its breed?”

_ __ _

Garcia gave him a quick grin, “Yep,” before she spun around, facing the team. “Alright everyone, out!” She said. “I'm tired and they need bonding time.” 

"Wait, Garcia-" Reid tried to stop her, but he wasn't even sure if he'd heard her. 'You can't just leave me alone with a talking bird,' was what he was going to say. But soon she was gone, having already left. Correction: She ditched him on purpose to leave Reid alone with Mojo in order to completely drive him insane. Hasn't Reid already gone through enough? He's been shot, kidnapped, and drugged, what more could you put the guy through?

_ __ _

His teammates smiled at him. “Bye Reid.” Emily said. “See you in two weeks.”

_ __ _

“Good luck bird boy.” Rossi said.

_ __ _

Reid gave him a flat smile. “Yeah thanks.”

_ __ _

And soon all that was left was one Reid, one bird, and one Morgan.

_ __ _

Morgan took a few steps over and slightly nudged Reid's shoulder. “Hey.” He said. “Don't be a stranger over the holidays. Call me okay?”

_ __ _

Reid smiled at him. “Sure thing. Merry Christmas Morgan.”

_ __ _

“Merry Christmas Spencer.” He patted him on the back before he backed up and walked out of the door, closing it behind him. Reid was finally alone.

_ __ _

“Books.” The bird squaked, eyeing the floor with his twitching head. “Books books books books books.”

_ __ _

Reid has never sighed so deeply in his entire life.

_ __ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me what you guys think:D Should I continue this? Let me know!
> 
> Side note: If you haven't noticed, I love to write fluff and humor;) don't worry y'all, this is just the introduction. But can you really blame me? I like writing the way I picture the characters to interact with one another


	2. Prologue - II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahhh I've been reading your guy's comments and I'm so happy people are as excited about this story as I am!
> 
> This chapter was a bit rushed, apologies for the messy writing in this one.

December 11th - 3:29am - 3 hours and 29 minutes into vacation

...

Reid had been a hair close to missing his flight. Not only did he have to throw together 2 weeks worth of clothing, but he also had to bring Mojo. Who, might he add, had limited amount of bird food, though Garcia was gracious enough to make sure Reid had enough for at least one week, as well as the “Parrots for dummies” book guide.

Reid wasn't sure why Garcia had gotten him a Parrot, other then the fact that he was “in need of new friends.” He hadn't exactly processed it when he first saw Mojo, but today had to have been the worst timing in human history for Garcia to give Reid a living creature as a Christmas present. It was around 10pm when the team had left his apartment last night, and from then on until about 12am, Reid had read through the whole book Garcia had given him. The only reason why it took him so long to read the thing was because Mojo kept squeaking, squawking, and talking, and it was driving Reid insane. 

Then, he sat there for the next three hours, profiling a bird he didn't even know could be profiled. Mojo was cocky, loud, and had an attitude that Reid had no idea how to control.

3:56am, around 2 hours ago… 

Reid stared down that parrot like he was studying the theory of equilibrium. All the bird did was twitch his head and occasionally flap his wings while staring back at Reid with a mocking sense of interest. The only way to get Mojo to shut up was to give him attention.  
Reid’s eyes narrowed, his folded hands sitting in front of his lips as he chewed at his inner cheek. He glared at the bird, unknowingly having a death defying stare down with him.

His flight to Las Vegas was at 5 and he hadn’t even begun to pack. He was planning on visiting his mother and exploring the museums of LA for the next two weeks, especially since he didn’t really have anyone else to celebrate Christmas with, not that it bothered him. For a moment, he briefly thought about calling JJ or Emily, maybe even Morgan, just to see if he could come over for a day or two after the holidays. He didn't know why, but he felt as if he missed them already. Maybe he could text one of them? Ask them what's going on?  
His eyes drifted as he subconsciously looked to the last spot he had placed his phone. It wasn't there anymore.  
He shook his head. No, they were busy with their own families, butting in like that would just make things awkward. Plus, it probably wasn't socially acceptable. Who would contact, much less hang out with their co-workers during the holidays?

“Ha, ha!” Mojo chirp, creeping across his branch. “I win.”

Reid realized he had gone so deep in thought that he wasn’t even looking anywhere near the cage anymore. He groaned and stood up from the couch. “You know what.” He said. “Who said we were even having a contest?”

He twitched his head downwards. “Logic.”

Reid inhaled and began to pace back and forth. “You know I’m supposed to be going to visit my mother today, I can’t just leave you here, but…” He stressed. “But I can’t take you with me either.” He ran his fingers through his messed hair and he shut his eyes. “What am I supposed to do with a talking bird?” He rubbed his forehead. “Garcia...”

“Ooo!” Mojo almost seemed to roar, the sound made Reid peer at him confusedly, Garcia had so many questions coming for her as soon as he could find his phone. “Road trip!” Mojo mused.

Reid turned his head in dead disagreement. “No.”

“Pleeeaase?”

“No!”

Mojo chanted. “Road trip, road trip, road trip!” 

Reid sternly pointed at him. “I said no, and that’s final!” But Mojo kept chanting and Reid glanced at his front door. Oh the complaints he was going to get if he didn’t keep this bird quiet. “Hey!” He demanded. “If I give you a cherry, will you be quiet?”

Mojo’s head shook profusely, the sound of shaking and shrilling tweets coming from his beak. 

Reid wasn’t going to get anywhere with this animal. So he knelt down next to the cage and leveled with the bird, giving him the most deadliest glare he could muster up at nearly 4am. “I am Doctor Spencer Reid from the FBI, three PhDs, IQ of 187, epidemic memory, and the einstein of the century. I have been shot, kidnapped, and beaten, and I can kill you so fast and so easily I will leave behind _no traces._ The crime scene will be left so clean, not even Sherlock Holmes could figure out how it was done.”

Mojo squawked in a sarcastic tone. “Ahhhh, scary! Call 911!” He flapped his wings dramatically.

Reid rolled his eyes. “Will you - will you just be quiet? What do you want?” He pleaded with Mojo, still glancing between the door and the cage which made the parrot go quiet for a few moments. Mojo eyed him suspiciously.

Reid knelt there, waiting for Mojo’s reply, which made him uncomfortable. If talking with people was bad enough, this was making Reid slowly descend into discomfort. He was literally letting himself be undermined by a bird.

“... Road trip.” Mojo said.

Reids neck twisted. He mentally wrote a list of pros and cons in his head about bringing a parrot on a plane and traveling to Los Vegas with one. Physically, pros and cons weighed about the same, mentally, the cons outweighed the pros, and emotionally… all cons. Did Bennington Sanitarium even allow any animals in their building? “If I bring you with me… will you _promise_ to just. _Keep. Quiet_?”

“Pinky!” Mojo said, holding up one of his talons while balancing on his other.

Reid huffed. Good God, Mojo was intelligent. “Okay um…” Reid struggled to maneuver his way through the cage bars with his finger.

“Open.” Mojo said. “Open cage.”

Reid stopped and gave Mojo a deadpanned look. “Yeah there’s no way an African Grey Parrot is going to trick me to open this cage so he can fly off, cause a ruckus, and get me kicked out of my apartment to be left on the streets.” He said, showing off his flat smile. He stood up and looked around his apartment, mumbling something about the flight, his mom, and the bird. “What time…” He whispered to himself, he pulled back his sleeve to take a look at his watch. His eyes bulged. It was Already 4 in the morning. “Shhhh-” He refrained from cursing at himself and immediately started throwing together a suitcase. 

Mojo watched Reid run from room to room, carrying either books or clothes. “Books.” Mojo seemed to say disappointedly. “So many books...”

5:26am, 2 hours later… 

At the very least, Reid had some peace and quiet on the plane ride, while Mojo spent his time down in the cellars doing who-knows-what. Probably making friends with another bird or something. Reid gazed out the window of the plane, looking down at the slow moving earth below. His blank expression seemed to fade into a deep frown.

In that moment, he forgot about his job, he forgot about Mojo and Garcia, and calling Morgan within the next 5 days, 2 hours, and 8 minutes from now. His mind became clouded with thoughts of his mother. How was she doing? Was she better, was she worse? It had been 11 months since the incident with Cat, when she’d taken Diana away from him. He was lucky to get her back at all, he knew Cat had the power to keep her from him for the rest of his life if it meant his hellish torment. All the days of his life, misery, while Cat laughed at him from afar in her prison cell. He closed his eyes and swallowed hard, his elbow resting on his arm chair and his fingers brushing up against his soft pink lips. 

_“I'm so sorry.” Diana squeezed Reid's hands as she sat across the metal table from him. She shook her head. “I can't believe I'm losing you to this. Not like this…” But she smiled sympathetically anyways, seeming as if she was almost trying to hide the pain of her tears. “The Alzheimer's - I was starting to make peace with that, but this, oh…” She breathed. “How can I leave you here?”_

_“Mom,” Reid comforted. “You are not losing me, and you are not leaving me here, because I'm going to get out. The BAU will clear my name.” He reassured._

_But all she did was shake her head. “There isn't time.” She said. “Pretty soon I won't even remember you're my son anymore.”_

_Reid felt his throat restrict at that comment, and his heart grow dull. Because he knew she wasn't wrong. He dropped his gaze and looked at the table with guilt._

_His mother's voice began to wobble. “I won't remember loving you.”_

_Reid looked up at her, his eyes filled with a sort of pain that he could only feel through deep sorrow. “Love isn't a memory. It's so much more than that.”_

Reid opened his eyes to find that he was still on the plane. But the world underneath him seemed to have become a blur, and he realized his eyes were watering.

_“Even if you forget, I never will.”_

He inhaled and leaned back into his seat, shaking himself from his own thoughts. The sound of a slow and quiet piano played inside his head. He was nowhere near that prison now, his mother was safe, and Derek Morgan was back on the team. So was Hotchner, Reid even had gotten his hair cut and swore to never have facial hair again, mainly because that was one of the first things Morgan made fun of him for when he’d returned to the BAU. Everything was back to normal, and it was perfect. And Reid was happy, wasn't he?

Yet, like always, it was never good enough for Spencer. Something was always wrong. It was just, sometimes he wasn't able to pinpoint what it was. Most of the time it was the things that he could never wrap his head around, things that he couldn't understand. If Reid feared anything, it was the fear of the unknown, fear of the things he couldn't solve with science and mathematics.

A sudden turbulence took Reid by surprise, and he held onto the arms of the chair as the plane shook. God, he needed to get out of his head. He remembered a few months ago when Emily had told him that he was always thinking too much. He didn’t deny it, but sometimes he just couldn’t help it.

“It’s okay…” He heard a soft voice from the seats across the ile murmur. “It’s just turbulence, sweetheart.” 

He glanced over to see a mother comforting her worrying child. A young boy with curly red hair and blue eyes sat close to his mother. The boy looked up at his mom with a puppy dog look and leaned closer to her, tears biting at the corners of his eyes.

“Just turbulence…” She repeated, stroking his soft hair.

And even though she wasn’t talking to Reid, he took her words to heart and reminded himself that it was only turbulence. It was just turbulence, and everything was going to be okay, no matter how bad things seemed to get. There were flight attendants and pilots who knew how to stay safe in an airplane. Just like his teammates knew how to handle bad situations, whether business or personal matters, they were always there for him through tough times, weren’t they? 

It was just turbulence.

______________________________________________ 

_________________________________ 

Garcia’s apartment was blasting with crazy loud teen music. Sitting at her desk in front of her computer with a blue and pink flowered kimono robe wrapped around her body, she was typing furiously on her keyboard as if she was playing with hot matches. Her eyes running across the screen 30 times per second. She glanced at the time, it was past 9 in the morning. She grabbed the edge of her desk and pushed herself and her chair back, the wheels of the chair driving her all the way to her bed as she slowly spun around and grabbed the messy sheets. She picked up two pieces of paper, one in each hand, examining them both from side to side. 

Her serious tone disappeared, and she smiled a prideful smile. 

“Goddess of everything and all, strikes again.” She said, clearly impressed with herself.

Her phone started buzzing, and she looked towards her pillow. She slapped the papers back down onto the bed and tiptoed herself, and the chair over to the front of her bed. She reached under the pillow and pulled out a bedazzled slide phone.

She answered the call and threw her phone up to her ear in a hurry. “Yes? what? Hi - hi - uh, this is Penelope?”

“Hey there Garcia.” The other end of the line said.

Garcia gasped. “Do mine ears deceive-eth me?” She dramatized. “Is this my genius wonder-boy?”

She heard the faintness of Reid’s quiet laugh on the other end of the phone. “Yeah, it’s me Garica.”

“Wow!” She glanced back at her cat clock that hung above her bed. “I was just talking to you, like, 11 hours ago what's up?”

“Uh…” Reid breathed.

On the other end of the phone, Reid was currently struggling to carry his giant duffle bag on one shoulder, hold the phone with one hand, and the birdcage in another. He walked down the sidewalks of Las Vegas, earning some odd looks from passing people, but then again it was Las Vegas. Most people just shrugged a shoulder at the sight.

“Oh no, let me guess…” Garcia said. She frowned pitifully. “You and Mojo aren't getting along…”

Reid could hear the disappointment in her voice. “Well, no, I wouldn't say that.” He said. “Just… having trouble understanding him - look, I read the parrot book you gave me and I think I understand how to take care of him, but…”

Garcia waited for him to answer impatiently. “What? But what?” She pushed.

Reid stopped by a bench and dropped everything he was carrying, panting as he looked down the car filled streets. The sun was bright, and it made Reid squint his eyes. “Garcia, I don't know how to talk to him.”

Garcia waited for him to explain, she didn’t understand.

“I mean, look, he's a bird. He doesn't do anything that I say, he constantly wants me to give him attention, and he's extremely mischievous. Should I also mention the fact that it's been less than twenty-four hours since I've known him and he's tried to manipulate me seven times already? Seven! You know, pathological liars and manipulators are 18x more likely to be psychotic, which of course means that they're 82% more likely to become a serial killer then compared to people with a healthy mind. Back in 1975, there was a case--”

“Alright I'm gonna stop you right there, sweets.” Garcia interrupted. “Reid, he's a smart bird, if he's really _that_ conversational, don't you think it could only be fate that brought you two together? I mean, what else could have possibly made you two meet?”

“You?”

“I think…” She ignored his quick retort, and she crossed her legs and swerved in her chair with a soft smile plastered on her face. “That this is the beginning of a beautiful and blossoming friendship between man and parrot. A lonely, isolated soul trapped alone with a boisterous, loud mind for the next two weeks. Magic is bound to wrap a tight little bow around them and make them best friends that together will take down the evil villian named unsub.”

Reid blinked and squinted, looking at his current surroundings. “I'm in Las Vegas.”

“What?” Garcia almost shouted. “What about Mojo? You didn't leave him did you?” She asked in a rush.

“What? No,” He eyed the bird who was hanging out comfortably in his cage. _‘Starting to wish I did.’_

“What was that?”

Oh shit, Reid said that out loud? “Nothing, I'm visiting my mom for Christmas. I just need to know how to keep him quiet so he doesn't disturb anyone from within a 17 mile radius.”

Garcia tutted and sighed. “Try reading to him. You like books, I'm sure he'd love that.”

Reid watched Mojo as he took his talons and tried climbing up the thin bars of the cage. Reid opened his mouth. “Uh…” He tried to concentrate. “Yeah okay-”

“Great! Because I've gotta go do some Penelope Garcia business; top secret stuff. Sorry genius. Say hi to your mother for me!”

“Wait Garcia-”

But once again, she hung up on without even listening for Reid to finish what he’d started to say. He took a quick look at his phone just to make sure she was really gone, and then stuffed it in his pocket again.

Soon Reid would be at the front of Bennington Sanitarium to meet his mom for the first time in months.

______________________________________________ 

_________________________________ 

11:21pm.

The streets of Boston, Massachusetts were as busy as always. There were christmas lights hanging around every corner you turned, and the sound of yelling and laughing children could be heard from miles away.

There were crowds of people late night shopping, snow on the ground, and woman walking their dogs. Near a giant public holiday tree, a tall man in a dark tuxedo was hit by a snowball right at the back of his neck. He swiftly turned on his heel and looked around with a look of determination. But there was nobody behind him to be seen standing in snowball-throwing position. He furrowed his eyebrows before being attacked from behind. A loud, but high pitched grunt of triumph sounded from on top of the man's back.

“Ha! Got you!” The sound of a little girl cheered.

The tall man laughed and fell to his knees in defeat. “No, not the Snow Queen!” He joked.

The girl slide off his back and landed in the snow, giggling loudly, not having a care in the world that the two were dead center in people's walk way, and neither did the older man. The little girl fell on her back and started to make a snow angel. 

The guy breathed heavily beside her, watching her with a glint of humour in his eyes. “You know what I bet you’d be good at?” He asked her. “Baseball.”

“Ewwwww,” The girl said as she sat up. 

“Aw come on,” He said. “You’d do great as a pitcher!”

“I hate balls!” She said.

The father dipped his head and chuckled slightly. “Yeah, keep it that way sweetheart.” He patted her on the shoulder and stood up, reaching out for her to help her on her feet. “Come on princess, we gotta go. We don’t want to worry your mom’s head off.”

The small blondie whined. “Aww...” She trotted a few steps forward. “Mikey always gets to stay out later than I do. It’s not fair.”

The dad almost tilted his head in agreement, but caught himself before giving anything away. “Sweety, Mikey doesn’t exactly… respect the house rules all the time. He does what he wants, even if your mom and I don’t agree with it.”

She spun around. “Why can’t I do that?”

He walked over to her and knelt down in front of her. “Because you,” he tucked a hair behind her ear. “Are a smart girl, who follows her parents wishes with no questions asked.”

The girl seemed to put on a pouty face. “He always gets to spend more time with the people he wants to. It’s not fair...” She mumbled and looked to the snowy ground. 

Her father put a hand on her cheek. “Angela.” He said. “You know I love you, right?”

She looked up at him and nodded rapidly, but she no longer smiled, as if afraid of being scolded. “Yea…” She whispered.

But her father's soft smile suddenly faded into one of shock. Angela stared at him. 

He suddenly couldn’t keep his balance anymore and he lost all sense of coordination. A sharp pain in his stomach made him instinctively wrap an arm around his torso. He fell onto his side, shaking furiously.

“Daddy??” The little girl began to get scared, and she sat beside him, shaking him. “Daddy? Daddy? Are you okay daddy?” But all he did was shake, and the girl saw a pool of red snow start to form underneath him. She didn’t understand why, so she asked him. “Daddy? Should I call the police?” She asked. “There’s red snow.”

The father looked at his daughter with great sorrow, he knew exactly what was happening. He didn’t understand why; it was so unfair for her to be here to see this. All he could say was a faint, “it’s going to be okay” to her, before he couldn’t think, talk, or feel anything anymore. The last thing he saw was of his daughter’s scared, and worried expression, and a small group of people forming around them.

The girl kept calling out to him, but he couldn’t hear her anymore. He was so tired, and an endless sleep overtook his body. The little girl was crying now, what was happening?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prologue is over, time to get down to some real business;)


End file.
